Captain Lena Wood

Chapter 2

Fortis? Why fortis? I'm not brave. I should be in the outcast group or at least Et Ipsum, the smart. But why fortis? I keep asking myself.

We're on campus now. Everyone walks down long hallways and through the double doors to the food court. I look around and the room is huge, and of course, it's all white.

This is the day where everyone in the school, teachers, staff, and all of the older students, come and present themselves to the newcomers.

We walk up to the front, where there's a stage, and stop. A man walks up to the podium. He says, "Welcome young ones. If you don't know me already, I'm the Commissioner. I'm head of this department. I'm sure that all of you have been sorted into your groups already."

He holds out his hand and shows all of us where the tables are. "On the far left wall there, that's the Et Ipsum house. On the far right wall, that's the Et Iuvat house and the middle table here is the Fortis house. I will call out your name and you will tell myself and everyone else what house you've been sorted into. You will walk to that table and sit down. Then we'll soon have dinner. I will begin."

He begins to call out names. As he calls out names, I look around at the different tables. You can tell that everyone belongs in their proper places. The kids at the Et Ipsum house table definitely look nerdy. All of them look like smart people. I turn and look at the Et Iuvat house table and they look like nice people. I turn around and look at the Fortis house table and some look really muscular, including the girls. Some also look mean. I make a mental note, Don't mess with them.

"Lena Wood." The Commissioner says. He pauses. "Lena Wood." he says again.

Oh god. I'm shaking all over my body, on the inside of my body. I'm scared that if I open my mouth, I might sound nervous or say something I shouldn't. I slowly say, "Fortis."

Everyone turns to me and stares at me. I gulp hard. I slowly walk out of the crowd and walk over to the table. Hopefully nobody notices that I'm a human. I think to myself. I sit down at a spot and keep my head down so I don't see anyone staring at me. I look up at the Commissioner and he's writing something down. I hope it's nothing bad.

After he goes through the rest of the names, he says, "Alright everyone. Thank you for letting us get through this smoothly. Also, before we eat, I need to tell all of you some rules. Rule 1: If I find out that any of you are lying about what house you told me, there will be consequences. Rule 2: Follow the rules that the teachers and the older students tell you. It's that simple. Rule 3: If any of you fail in any of your classes or your training tests, there will also be consequences. The last and final rule, have fun. Meet friends and most importantly, don't give up. Oh, one more rule. NO FIGHTS! If you fight, there will be consequences along with detention. Now that we have all of that out of the way, lets eat!"

Waiters come around with carts of food. It looks like Thanksgiving. They have a huge roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, tons of vegetables, fruits, and a big bowl of punch. This is heaven.

I help myself to the food. I haven't had this much food in months. I stuff my face with the most delicious food I've ever had. I could live like this. Then dessert comes. There are at least ten different kinds of cake, ice cream, jell-o, pies. What more could they serve?

~

After dinner, everyone follows the older students to the dorms. It's like a maze in here. I'm going to get lost. We go upstairs and around corners to another set of hallways. The crowd of kids stop. One of the older students say, "This hallway, behind me, is the Fortis hall. This belongs to us. Now, that doesn't mean we can do what we want. We still have to follow the rules. Besides that, you can do whatever you want."